Legal Affairs
Obi, LP close case against Tinubu at Presidential Tribunal
Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party and his party, have officially closed their case against president Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress at the presidential election petition tribunal.
The case was closed after they tendered bundles of staggering evidences and presentation of witnesses who testified in the court against the defendants (Bola Tinubu, Shettima, APC and INEC).
However, below is the transcript of what transpired in the court which brought closure to the case.
Time: 4:53pm
The Justices are here.
REPRESENTATIONS
– Comrade Ladi Iliya, Deputy National Chairman, Labour Party represents the Labour Party
– Chris Maigida represents the APC.
Counsel appearances announcement ongoing.
PETITIONERS (LP) LEGAL TEAM
LEAD: DR LIVY UZOUKWU SAN
– Awa Kalu SAN
– Ben Anechebe SAN
– Ikechukwu Ezechukwu SAN
– Valerie Azinge SAN
– Emeka Opoko SAN
– Alex Ejesieme SAN
– Peter Afuba SAN
– Rita Chris-Garba Esq
– Emenike Mbanugo Esq
– Mathias Esq
1ST RESPONDENT (INEC) LEGAL TEAM
LEAD: DR KEMI PINHERO SAN
–
– Stephen SAN
– TM Inuwa SAN
– Alhassan SAN
– abdulazeez Sani SAN
– Suleiman Ibrahim SAN
– Nasara Auta Esq
– Patricia Obi Esq
– Ayoleke Owolai Esq
2ND & 3RD RESPONDENTS (TINUBU/SHETTIMA) LEGAL TEAM
LEAD: WOLE OLANIPEKUN SAN
– Emmanuel SAN
– Oladipo Opeseyi SAN
– Babatunde Ogala SAN
– Fumilayo SAN
– Helen Esq
– Akintola Makinde Esq
4TH RESPONDENT (APC) LEGAL TEAM
LEAD: LO FAGBEMI SAN
– Afolabi Fashanu SAN
– Olabisi Soyekan SAN
– Oluseye Opesanya SAN
– Rotimi Oguneso SAN
– Solomon Umoh SAN
– Adeniji Kazeem SAN
– Lawan Yusuf SAN
– Aliyu Sarki SAN
– Anthony Adeniyi SAN
– Lukman Fagbemi SAN
– Dele Badeyon Esq.
Time: 5:12pm
Dr Livy notes that the Witness stood down yesterday is now available for Cross-examinations.
The witness is in the dock.
1ST RESPONDENT CROSS-EXAMINATION
Q. Confirm to the court where you were on 25 February Election day
A. I voted at my polling unit in dawaki after which I left for the Situation Room.
I went back to confirm the results at the polling unit before going back again to situation room.
Time: 5:17pm
Q. Will I be correct to say apart from your polling unit and situation room, you were not physically anywhere else on that day
A. Yes I was not
Q. What is your designation in LP
A. I’m the Chief Spokesman of the Campaign Council as well and National Director, Media of the LP
Our witness is Yinusa Tanko, Chief Spokesperson of Obidatti Campaign council.
Time: 5:20pm
Q. You were not a polling agent or collation agent for your party in any of the Polling Unit
A. I’m a collation agent at the situation room
Q. He’s asked again
A. No, apart my polling unit where I conducted my election
Q. Look at this Federal High Court Judgment CTC delivered on 23/01/2023 LP v. INEC, confirm it is one of the suit your party filed
A. Yes my Lord
He now seeks to tender the judgment before the court.
The Petitioners object to the document and will give reasons at final address.
Time: 5:27pm
All Respondents do not object to the document sought to be tendered.
The Court:
The CTC of Court Judgment is hereby admitted into evidence and marked as Exhibits X1 accordingly.
As the court pleases.
Q. Look at Pg2 of Exhibit X1, read the declarations your party sought
A. Declaration not to opt for manual upload but electronic method
An Order of the court to compel INEC to comply with the provisions of the law.
Q. Read the last 2 Paragraphs of the Judgment.
Time: 5:35pm
A. The court ruled that INEC will chose its method as provided by law
Q. Did your party appeal that judgment
A. I’m not aware of this one and not aware of an appeal
Q. He’s shown Exhibit PCE1, PU 048 Ward 07 LGA 02 FCT and PU 070 Ward 07 LGA 02 FCT.
Time: 5:44pm
From this 2 forms, tell the court the score of LP
A. The both forms is blurred and mutilated and difficult for me to confirm
Q. I suggest to you that the score of LP is 204
A. No, it’s blurred
Q. The second, do you see 17
A. It is also mutilated and blurred
Q. Do you see 59 for LP
A. It is mutilated
Q. Do you see 6 votes for APC
A. They are mutilated
Q. Are they mutilated or blurred
A. They are mutilated and blurred
Q. In the entirety of you 105 paragraphs of your witness deposition, confirm to this court that you’ve not
stated any figure as unlawful votes
A. Seemimgly No
Q. Look at Para 9, you talked about Party Agents of your party, confirm to the court that you had agents in all polling units
A. Yes, 133,000
Q. How many polling units nationwide
A. I can’t remember the figure
2ND & 3RD RESPONDENTS CROSS-EXAMINATION
Q. We have and out of that your party had 133,000 Agents
A. Yes my Lord
Q. Tell the court when you left the National Conscience Party
A. I joined the LP in 20th May 2022
Q. You joined before the 1st Petitioner
A. Yes
Q. The Primaries of the LP to pick the Vice Presidential candidate was held on 30th May 2022
A. Yes
Q. In Para 18 of your witness statement, you gave the official results of the election as announced by INEC
A. These are the results allocated, yes
Q. Oh, in the allocation
Your party came 3rd
A. Yes my Lord
Q. In that allocation, PDP and Atiku came second
A. He was also all
Located the result, yes my Lord
Q. Where you voted in Abuja,your party won in your PU
A. Yes
Q. Tell my Lords if your PU results were allocated
A. If…
Q. Answer, do you want the court to void the figures in your PU
A. Yes
Q. Your party in the overall results won all the 5 eastern states and 7 other states
A. Yes
Q. What is the state of origin of Peter Obi
A. Anambra State
Q. In Anambra, Peter Obi scored 95.07%
A. I’ve not seen the figures
Q. I suggest to you that that was what he scored
A. I’ve not seen it
Q. It’s in your witness statement
A. Refer me let me see
Q. Whether by was of allocation or whatever, your LP won in 12 states, do you.
Time: 5:57pm
Q. Want the votes voided
A. We’re not satisfied and that why we are here for the votes to be uploaded, as of today, they are still being uploaded
Q. Where do you live
A. Dawaki
Q. Is that your personal property
A. Not really
Q. Do you have a generator?
A. I manage a ‘I pass my neighbour’
Court: so you pass your neighbour.
Q. You bought that generator due to constant power failure
A. Yes my Lord
Q. You have a mobile phone
A. Yes my Lord
Q. A good number of times, text messages and calls don’t go through because of network
A. Seemingly so
Q. In Para 100 of your witness statement, you stated that you can identify results obtained from IREV. Tell the court the number of unlawful votes allocated to Tinubu.
A. Our expert brought a documented report in that regard
Q. Tell the Court what your expert presented
A. I was not in court when he testified
Q. Do you know?
A. No I don’t
Q. In Para 103,you want the court to deem votes as wasted votes, tell the court the votes
A. Those were the reports presented by our expert
Q. The one who came second (Atiku)what do you want the court to do with him
A. I said it in my statement on oath, we want our candidate declared
Q. What do you want the court to do with the votes of the second?
A. We challenge the entire results of the election and it affects everyone
Q. So you want the court to cancel the votes of LP
A. We said the results were allocated and INEC did not do the right thing.
Q. Tell the court the number of valid votes scored by Peter Obi
A. Our export on oath gave evidence in that regard
Q. Were you here when he gave evidence
A. No, I can’t be here
Court: do you know what was scored by Obi or not
A. I’ve answered, our export gave evidence in that regard.
That’s all for this.
Time: 6:12pm
4TH RESPONDENT CROSS-EXAMINATION
Q. The report of your expert was his final report
A. That was his report
Q. I suggest to you that in giving your deposition, you considered all the documents mentioned in para 102 of your deposition
A. I read them
Q. All the evidences you identified yesterday you didn’t open the box and envelopes
A. I looked at them and I opened them
Q. You did not open all
A. No
Q. As Chief Spokesman, I’ll be right to say you got or received information from INEC from time to time
A. No
Q. On 23rd February, INEC said we are sorry, we will not be able to go as far as uploading results electronically
A. I’m not aware, I’m only aware of the press release by Festus Okoye which is also attached to our documents.
Q. Look at Exhibit PCQ, those are receipts obtained
For certified true copies of INEC documents which were tendered here
A. Yes
Q. Please confirm some of the documents were obtained 6 April, 25 April, 31 March variously like that
A. I can see 15, 16, 31 March, 4 April, 2120 March,… They are receipts of payment for documents
Q. In Para 102, you rely on the documents mentioned there to make your depositions
A. Yes
Q. Documents mentioned in Para 102L,M, N,O,V,Y,Z,AA,CC,JJ,MM,OO,RR were not tendered in this proceedings
A. We are in process of tendering them
Q. You were not able to tender all
A. Yes
Time: 6:40pm
Q. You mentioned that you relied on evidence of forensic experts
A. Yes
Q. Your deposition was made on March 20th
A. Yes
Q. Are you aware that the final reports of your expert was in May 2023
Q. You’ll agree with me that the issue you brought to court were transmission of irev
not snatching of ballot box
A. Our case was on 2 grounds, double nominations and forfeiture
They show him the court judgment in PDP v INEC & ORS on double nominations which he identifies… They now seek to tender the documents before the court
PETITIONERS object to the tendering and admissibility of the documents and shall advance reasons.
ALL OTHER RESPONDENTS do not object to the document.
The Court:
The Court Judgment hereby admitted into evidence and marked as Exhibits X2 accordingly.
As the court pleases…
Q. By that judgment, the issue of double nominations have be solved
A. No, it is not settled
And that is all for the Cross-examination.
The Petitioners note that they do not have any re-examinations.
Dr Livy tells the court that they have 2, maybe 3 witnesses.
The court notes that it is almost 7pm.
LO Fagbemi notes that ordinarily, the LP should have ended their time on Tuesday and that they are here with new people and should not be allowed to continue.
Time: 6:47pm
The Court will now rise for 10 Minutes and continue with the proceedings.
Looks like we are in for a show this evening.
Time: 7:8pm
Dr Livy Uzoukwu SAN for LP now calls the next witness…
The witness is in the witness box and now take the oath of truth. He affirms.
LP’s Ikechukwu Ezechukwu SAN will now conduct the proceedings.
Q. What’s your name
A. PEY
Q. Where do you live
A. KD
Q. What do you do
A. Just a graduate with nothing to do yet
Q. You’re here on subpoena
A. Yes
Q. Do you have the subpoena here?
A. Yes my Lord.
They now seek to tender the subpoena in evidence.
ALL RESPONDENTS do not object to the subpoena sought to be tendered.
The Court:
The subpoena is hereby admitted into evidence and marked as Exhibits accordingly.
As the court pleases.
Q. Recall that you made a deposition this morning
A. Yes
Q. Will you recognize it and how?
A. Yes, my signature is on the document
He’s shown his witness statement on oath and he identifies the document.
Q. Do you want to adopt this deposition as your evidence
A. Yes
ALL RESPONDENTS object to the document and rely on their earlier positions regarding the arguments.
1ST RESPONDENT CROSS-EXAMINATION
Q. what role did you play on election day
A. I was a Presiding Officer
Q. You were trained by INEC on how to do your role on that day
A. Yes
Q. And that training included how to use the BVAS in conduct of elections
A. Yes my Lord
Q. You successfully used the bvas for accreditation
A. Yes
Q. You did successfully
A. No
Q. There was no accreditation
A. Yes
Q. There was accreditation
A. No
Time: 7:38
Dr Kemi Pinhero now reminds the court of their position to come back on the 3rd of July 2023 in the PDP case and also rely on that same position in this case.
All other Respondents align themselves with this position to adjourn the matter until 3rd of July.
Dr Livy notes that Wole SAN had prayed the court not to alter the schedule when they wanted to continue their case and not grant any alterations.
He further notes that, going by their demand, the Respondent are suppose to open their case tomorrow.
He notes on a lighter note…
Justice Monsurat wishes everyone a very very good Salah Celebration and hopes that we meet here in peace in July.
The court now rises.
The court have now adjourned the matter till July 3, 2023 at 9am for continuation of hearing
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The victims were brutally murdered on June 12, 2025, when a mob attacked their bus in Mangun district, Mangu Local Government Area.
They were traveling from Kaduna State to attend a wedding in Qua’an Pan LGA before tragedy struck.
According to reports, the group lost their way and entered a volatile community already shaken by recent terrorist activity.
Local youths allegedly mistook them for bandits and launched a deadly assault, leaving 13 people dead on the spot.
Following the killings, security operatives arrested 21 suspects.
In an earlier court sitting, 20 of them were remanded at the Jos Correctional Center while investigations continued.
However, on Wednesday, August 20, Justice Nafisa Lawal Musa granted bail after a motion filed by defence counsel, Garba Pwul (SAN).
This ruling has triggered outrage among the families of the victims, who insist the development is a slap in the face of justice.
Mallam Abdullahi Tahir Balami, a relative of one of the deceased, condemned the court’s action.
Speaking to reporters, he described the ruling as suspicious and raised concerns about possible foul play.
“With this development, we are now questioning the commitment of the Plateau State government to justice,” Balami said.
“It is saddening that suspects in a multiple homicide case can be released on bail.”
Another relative, Mallam Ubale Anguwar Dantsoho, who lost several family members, also expressed anger.
He described the decision as shocking and warned that justice may never be served.
“How can suspects in a murder case be granted bail?” he asked. “It shows that our system is failing us.”
Maryam Usman, widow of the driver killed in the massacre, expressed her heartbreak.
She said she struggled to understand why suspects linked to such a crime would be freed.
“What kind of court is this?” she asked in despair. “Instead of justice, the court dashed our hopes. We no longer believe justice will come.”
Her words echoed the feelings of many families now convinced that the judiciary has abandoned them.
Human rights activists are also calling for urgent intervention from both the state and federal governments to ensure accountability.
The Plateau killings have become one of the most disturbing tragedies in recent months.
The case now highlights the growing tension between grieving families and a judicial system accused of ignoring victims.
The Court of Appeal in Sokoto has upheld the Federal High Court’s decision dismissing former Zamfara State Governor Bello Matawalle’s challenge over the confiscation of over 40 official vehicles seized from his residence after he left office in 2023.
Delivering its unanimous verdict on August 8, 2025, a three-member panel led by Justice A.M. Talba ruled that Matawalle failed to provide credible evidence proving personal ownership of the vehicles.
The court emphasized that the vehicles were government property, not private assets, and rejected his claim that the seizure violated his fundamental property rights.
According to Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal’s spokesman, Sulaiman Idris, the vehicles were recovered in June 2023 after Matawalle and his deputy ignored a five-day ultimatum to return them.
Following their refusal, the state government sought and obtained a court order, enabling police operatives to raid Matawalle’s residence and recover the vehicles.
Initially, Matawalle secured an interim ruling from the Federal High Court in Gusau for the vehicles to be returned to him.
He also filed a separate suit claiming the confiscation breached his fundamental rights.
However, the case was transferred to the Sokoto division of the Federal High Court, which dismissed his claims in December 2023, affirming that the vehicles remained state property.
Dissatisfied with the lower court’s ruling, Matawalle escalated the matter to the Court of Appeal.
The appellate court, however, upheld the Federal High Court’s decision, affirming that the police acted lawfully in investigating the alleged misappropriation and that the state government followed due process in retrieving the vehicles.
The court concluded that Matawalle’s claims lacked merit and could not shield him from investigation or potential prosecution.
The leadership crisis tearing the Labour Party apart appears to have reached a turning point as the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Friday, struck out Julius Abure’s case against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), officially affirming that he is no longer the party’s National Chairman.
The court, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1523/2025, dismissed Abure’s suit due to a lack of jurisdiction, aligning with the Supreme Court’s earlier verdict on April 4, 2025 (Appeal No. SC/CV/56/2025), which voided all prior recognitions of his leadership.
However, while speaking on the judgment, Senator Nenadi Usman, the party’s Interim National Chairman, described the ruling as a clear victory for the rule of law.
“This decision removes every lingering doubt about Abure’s status. The chapter is closed. It’s time to put distractions behind us and rebuild the Labour Party into the disciplined, people-centred movement Nigerians deserve”, she said.
Also, INEC’s counter-affidavit in the case further solidified the court’s position, stressing that Abure’s tenure, along with that of the National Executive Committee, had expired in June 2024.
The commission also argued that the controversial March 27, 2024 “Nnewi National Convention” was invalid as it violated the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act 2022, INEC guidelines, and the Labour Party’s own constitution.
Senator Usman commended the electoral commission for its “clarity, courage, and institutional integrity” in presenting the facts and urged party members to “respect the supremacy of the Constitution and the authority of the courts.”
With bye-elections on the horizon and the 2027 general elections in sight, this ruling could mark the end of a year-long factional battle that has plagued the party.
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On August 8, 2025, the Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, upheld NNPC Ltd.’s appeal against the Federal High Court’s April 2023 judgement that annulled Senator Ifeanyi Araraume’s removal as non-executive Chairman of the NNPC Board and awarded him ₦5 billion in damages.
The Court of Appeal’s judgement spares NNPC Ltd a massive financial payout and removes a legal risk that could have invalidated all decisions of the Board since 2021.
The Appeal Court agreed to NNPC Ltd.’s position that the Federal High Court’s earlier decision was delivered in error, noting amongst others, that the claim was statute-barred.
This decision of the Court of Appeal secures governance stability for NNPC Ltd., sets a corporate governance precedent in Nigerian law, and upholds the validity of Board resolutions critical to the oil and gas industry’s investment and policy direction.
An Ikeja Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday cleared Miss Comfort Emmason of all charges related to unruly behavior and assaulting the flight crew aboard an Ibom Air flight from Uyo to Lagos.
Magistrate Olanrewaju Salami struck out the five-count charge following the withdrawal of the case by the police prosecution team.
During the hearing, prosecutor Oluwabunmi Adeitan informed the court of new developments that led to the decision to discontinue the case.
She submitted a formal application for its withdrawal, which the court accepted, effectively bringing the matter to a close.
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